


Lies, Lies, Lies (Rhymes with Spies, Spies, Spies)

by mommymuffin



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Spoilers, But for good reasons?, Gen, Nick Fury Lies, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), so does natasha
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 04:22:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3882130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mommymuffin/pseuds/mommymuffin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce can’t believe what he’s hearing; although somehow it makes perfect sense.</p><p>He shakes his head. “It never did seem right,” he confesses.</p><p>And really it hadn’t. From all angles Natasha’s advances had really come out of nowhere. It had even confused Bruce at first, yet he had still allowed himself to–to entertain the idea of future with her.</p><p>How had he not seen it had all been an act?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lies, Lies, Lies (Rhymes with Spies, Spies, Spies)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, look, I'm not dead! This is just something I had to work out of my system though. I'm still pretty much on a writing hiatus. :c
> 
> A few notes:
> 
> This is my headcanon for AOU (because I could just not get down with that Bruce/Nat pairing, ya dig?). I fixed it. In my mind.
> 
> Also:
> 
> 1\. Nat did this out of love (regular ole friendship love) and because she cares about Bruce and doesn’t want bad people to do bad things to him. She did it to protect him…from evil scientists and stuff. (And also a little bit because yeah, that’s still what she and Fury do to people–move them into position on the board, ugh spies).
> 
> 2\. This is inclusive of the Edward Norton Hulk movie, because hey, why not, it worked for my purposes. 
> 
> 3\. I would like to continue this and fix more things about AOU; we shall see.
> 
> 4\. Is this Stony? Yes. Yes, it is. But isn't everything really?

Moturiki Island was a tiny speck of land off the eastern coast of Fiji. Oblong in its shape, it held tourist resorts to the south and dense jungle to the north. Remote but liveable, it was suitable for Bruce Banner's needs.

Or so he had thought.

The sound of a jet engine approaching his end of the island instantly put Bruce on edge. He had thought he would have more time; it had only been three months.

He was surprised, however, when the craft came into view and it was not a Quinjet. For all intents and purposes it appeared to be a small private jet, unmarked and innocuous. Bruce knew better than to ever think the latter of anything unknown--or known.

It landed on the beach, near to the trees and far enough from the water to avoid the tide. The pilot had obviously been to an island previously.

Bruce waited around a curve of vegetation, observing through the trees, watching for who would descend the plane.

He really should have known who it would be.

Bruce approaches leisurely as Tony and Steve deboard from the plane.

"I didn't think anyone would come for me so soon," he says by way of greeting.

Tony makes a "what can you do" sort of gesture and Steve smiles softly.

The captain says, "We didn't come for you, Bruce."

"Oh?" Bruce says. "You just happened to take a vacation on the very same remote island I've been hiding on?"

"Actually we do happen to be on vacation," Tony pipes up.

They come to a stop just a few paces apart from one another, boots, sneakers, and sandals digging into the sand.

"Are you now?" Bruce says doubtfully.

"Yep," Tony says, patting Steve on the shoulder. "Good ole Steve and me taking are a few days off. Steve went to D.C. to visit some buddies. I went to Maui, my private jet is there and everything."

The doctor nods at the craft behind them. "That one a loner then?"

"What, oh that?" Tony says. "That's my incognito plane. No Stark Industries affiliations whatsoever. Don't let her demure exterior fool you though, she's a real firecracker inside." He waggles his eyebrows.

"Right…" Bruce says. "So what are you really doing here then?"

"Vacation," Tony says with a shrug. "Really."

Steve rolls his eyes (albeit fondly) at the eccentric genius. "We came to see you, Bruce. But not to take you anywhere. Just to check on you. We're here completely under the radar, unofficially and in no way affiliated with S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers, or anybody else. Just us."

Dr. Banner nods, then queries."Can I ask how you found me?"

Tony makes a face at him. "Do you really have to ask? It's _me_."

"I'd just like to conclude my hypothesis," Bruce says mildly.

"Drones," Tony says simply. "Had 'em out for weeks after we split ways. They've known where you are for over a month."

Bruce frowns at this.

"Don't worry," Tony says. "This is a confidential piece of information privy to only myself and the good captain here after he came a'asking."

"Came asking?" Bruce repeats. "Why...why did you come asking?"

Steve's face grows serious. "I thought there was something you should know."

Bruce's brow folds in on itself. "What...what should I know?"

The dread in Bruce's chest only grows when Cap puts on his "bad news" face; the one that's stern, but sympathetic.

"It's about Natasha," Steve tells him.

Alarm rises in Bruce's throat. "What--what about Natasha? Is she okay? Is she--"

"She's fine," Steve is quick to assure him. "Everyone is fine. I just...I overheard something she said to Fury."

Bruce's eyebrows rise at that. "You overheard something."

"Yeah, it's likely I was meant to hear it," Steve admits.

Tony scoffs.

Steve shoots him a quelling look and plows on. "She mentioned you were safer being off the grid for the time being."

"Safer...how?" Bruce asks, confused.

Steve inclines his head toward Tony, who obligingly produces a tablet and summons the image of middle aged white man that Bruce immediately recognizes.

"Samuel Sterns," he announces.

"You remember him then?" Steve asks.

"Yeah, I...I met him a while back…" Bruce says, squinting through his glasses at the photo. It appears to be a driver's license picture or some other form of government issued identification. "He was going to try to help me...reverse the process."

"Didn't exactly go your way, I gather," Steve says carefully.

"No…" Bruce says, glancing at him though his focus is on Tony tapping at the tablet.

When the billionaire turns the screen around to face him again, Bruce isn't sure what he's looking at.

"Is that…?"

"Sterns?" Cap supplies. "Yes. When your experiments didn't work, there was an accident in his lab. He was affected."

"Affected how?"

Dr. Banner still isn't at all sure what he's looking at. The image is blurry at best, but the shape is clearly that of a man right up until the head--which appears swollen and _green_ if Bruce isn't mistaken.

"Some of the gamma irradiated chemicals got into a cut on his forehead. They altered him," Steve explains. "He spent several months recuperating in a hospital until one day, he turned into this."

"What is it?" Bruce wants to know.

"We're not really sure," Cap says. "I did a little digging, found who Romanoff and Fury have been watching and put two and two together. Tony pulled everything he could find on Sterns, but there isn't much. He's been staying hidden for now, but recently broke into a facility to steal something. That's where we got our only real look at him and what he's become. It's not The Hulk by any means, but he certainly doesn't look like he did before."

Bruce is almost afraid to ask; but he needs to know. "What did he steal?"

"All of Betty Ross' research," Tony says, point blank.

The doctor blanches. " _Betty_."

Bruce hadn't thought about Betty in a long time. He hadn't thought about anything before the Avengers since joining them, really.

"You worked with Dr. Ross," Steve prods gently.

"Yes, we...she was…"

She was everything to Bruce at one point in time.

But he had left to protect her. Just like with--

"Oh god…" Bruce mutters. He had done the exact same thing now with Natasha. He didn't think that was exactly a coincidence--especially seeing as he hadn't been the one to instigate things.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. has extensive files on The Hulk," Steve says, obviously noticing Bruce catching on. "It wouldn't be out of the question for Widow to have had access to them.

"We think…" As hard as it is to admit this to Bruce, Steve forges on. "We think that after Sterns stole Dr. Ross' files, Black Widow looked into it under Fury's orders and...they decided to make you disappear again--like you did after the incident with Sterns and Blonsky."

Bruce can't believe what he's hearing; although somehow it makes perfect sense.

He shakes his head. "It never did seem right," he confesses.

And really it hadn't. From all angles Natasha's advances had really come out of nowhere. It had even confused Bruce at first, yet he had still allowed himself to--to entertain the idea of future with her.

How had he not seen it had all been an act?

"I'm sorry, Bruce," Steve says genuinely.

"She played you hard, bro," Tony says bluntly.

"Tony," Steve reprimands, then looks back at Bruce. "She played us _all_. We were all convinced, even me who has spent more time with her than anyone besides Hawkeye."

"Clint wasn't convinced," Tony points out. "He had no idea what was going on until his wife pointed it out to him. I talked to him about it once. He subconsciously knew Natasha was just running a gambit or something so he didn't really think anything of it. Those two are weird like that."

"Yeah…" Bruce says, but he's not really listening.

When he looks back on it now, he can see clearly that it was all a ruse, so cleverly played out. Natasha--Black Widow--never said anything to him that wasn't true, never lied, and therefore never piqued Bruce's suspicions. But she perfectly played him into wanting to run away again, for _her_ sake this time.

"I can't believe this…" Bruce mutters pitifully.

"Sorry, buddy," Tony says cheerfully. "But hey, me and Uncle Sam here really are on vacation or leave or whatever so we'll stick around and fix you right up. This sandbox has booze, right?"

"Tony," Steve says firmly.

"What? I'm trying to help. We just need to party it off, science bro!" Tony enthuses, slinging an arm around Bruce's shoulders.

Bruce brushes the arm away. "I...I think I need some time to think right now... _alone_ ," he emphasizes.

"Not everyone solves their problems with alcohol, Tony," Steve says severely.

Tony scowls harshly at Steve, before flipping the emotional switch to pout dramatically at Bruce. "Fine. Be a stick in the mud, do this the boring way."

"Tony," Steve says, exasperated, and hooks a hand around Tony's bicep.

Tony jerks his arm away and Steve holds in a sigh.

He says, "Let's give Bruce some space. Bruce, we'll be in the jet."

"Okay," Bruce nods vaguely.

"Hey, no fits of broken-hearted rage now!" Tony calls over his shoulder as Steve ushers him away. "This island would probably sink if you jumped on it!"

"Tony!" Steve chides.

"What? It's fine," Tony says, waving him off and promptly switching their positions to lead the way to the plane.

Steve rolls his eyes, sighs, _and_ shakes his head before following him with one last glance at Bruce.


End file.
